Eyes Turned Skyward
by dontwaitupxx
Summary: She was a little bird, always afraid of flight and staying on land, where she could be safe. Yet she longed for the freedom of it, and had always wondered how it would feel to break free from her cage and soar. She gripped the paraglider in both hands, steadied herself, and then leaped.


Eyes Turned Skyward

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it." – J.M. Barrie

* * *

It was a cool spring day, leading into summer in that little Hateno Village. The snow covering the hilltops had finally melted away completely a few weeks back, and now the gentle swish of the breeze tickled at Zelda's nose, and held a promise of a beautiful summer.

Zelda was walking down the winding hills from the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, enjoying the solitude and the faint echoes of voices and people from down below in the village. She had spent the day up at the lab, working on a project with Purah, and before she knew it, the time had slipped away, as all of Hyrule was now cast in stunning shades of magenta and gold, the sun slipping away behind the clouds, not to be seen again until the next morning.

Link had been with her at the lab as well, however, as she readied herself to leave, she was met with a fleeting glance and a promise that he would meet her back at their house soon, he just had to finish up something for Symin.

Which left her nearing the bottom of the hill in Hateno Village, the roads winding down to that main village center, houses and farms becoming closer together, the inn coming into full view. From here, Zelda could hear the conversations of the villagers as they finished up their day and prepared themselves to turn in for the night. The kids were being wrangled inside by their mothers as supper was being finished, the lights from the inside of the homes shining bright and warm into the twilight.

Even after two years of living in Hateno Village with Link, Zelda was still stunned and in awe of the magnificence and splendor of Hateno Village. It didn't matter the time of day, or the time of year, the village was always a beacon of beauty in its own right, nestled beneath the peaks of Lanayru.

She was startled out of her daydream when a gust of wind settled at her right side, and in a blink of an eye, Link was there, placing a kiss on her cheek. She laughed as his hand snaked its way around her waist, his lips trailing upwards towards her temple.

"Link, you have a knack for appearing out of thin air!"

He smirked, an impish thing, "Paraglider," he replied, as he began folding up the device in his hands.

Zelda playfully pushed him away, "You mean to say that you flew all the way from the top of the hills down here on your paraglider? Link, that's reckless and unnecessary!"

"It's also fun; you should try it sometime!" Link said, closing the distance between them once more, "I thought about trying to beat you back to the house and surprising you there, but I got distracted by a beautiful maiden in the center of town."

"You know, I ought to find out who this woman is who keeps distracting you!" Zelda mocked, a knowing smile on her face, "Is she prettier than me?"

"She's about on par with you."

"Is she smarter than me?"

"Depends on the day."

"You're such a nerd."

"I love you."

"I know."

They rounded the corner and made their way across the bridge towards their little home in Hateno Village. It wasn't much: a small little one-room house with a loft on the second floor, but it was home, and after living in the castle for so long, and then keeping the calamity prisoner there for even longer, it was a welcome change to be have a much more quaint space to call her own.

As they neared the house, she could see little birds perched atop the roof, and saw them fly away in a magnificent flight off towards the west at their approach. They made it look so easy; being able to simply spread their wings and soar. She had always wondered what it would be like to fly high above Hyrule, to feet the heat of the sun against her back, or to see her shadow cast against the ground in the pale moonlight.

It must be terrifying, she thought, for a baby bird to first flap their wings and leave the ground for the first time. It must be daunting to leave the safety of the ground and leap, but its what birds were meant to do. They were meant to fly and see the ground beneath their wings: they were meant to soar.

That night, Zelda got an idea.

It was late into the night, likely early in the morning, when Zelda slipped out from Link's strong grip in their bed on the loft in their little Hateno home. She slipped down the stairs quietly, not trusting her ears or her sight that Link had not woken up yet. When they had first begun living together after the defeat of the calamity, nearly two years ago, Link would be startled awake at the sound of a pin dropping. Even if she had woken up just go to around the house to the washroom, Link would stir at that. However, as the weeks turned into months and the months turned into years, Link gradually became a deeper and deeper sleeper, to where she could make her way to the washroom and back, or step outside briefly for a breath of fresh air, and come back without him waking.

This was proving to continue to be true, as she could hear the light sounds of his snores downstairs from the kitchen.

She slipped underneath the stairs, to where the pantry was, as well as where Link stored his gear and weapons. Zelda fished around his knapsack, until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out his paraglider, bringing it out into the kitchen, where the moonlight from the windows illuminated its design. The paraglider was Rito in design, exquisitely crafted, and was well over one hundred years old, having stood the test of time. When she had asked Link about how he got it, he had simply said that he had gotten it at the Temple of Time on the Great Plateau, shortly after he had awoken from the Shrine of Resurrection.

She felt giddy: rebellious, almost, as she quietly slipped out of the front door of their little Hateno home, closing the door quietly with a firm click. It was dark outside, with nothing but the stars and the moon to guide her. She knew that Link would let her use his paraglider if she just asked, but she didn't want him to feel like he had to help her. She just wanted to try it, see if she could do it, on her own. In this moment, she was feeling courageous.

She made her way across the yard to her left, and made for the winding path leading up towards the Ebon Mountain. The grass was soft and wet beneath her feet, dewy and cold, and she could feet the paraglider in her hands growing moist and cold as she trekked up the mountain.

She didn't go very high at all, only just to a small rocky cliff side that overlooked Hateno Village and their little cottage. To the east, Zelda could see just a hint of dawn peaking from the horizon, dark blacks and blues mixing with purples and dark oranges. To the west, it was still dark in Hyrule's twilight, its residents sleeping soundly under the blanket of its security. No longer was Hyrule under the threat of Ganon, of monsters, of the Yiga. Hyrule was in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity, something its residents had not seen in a century.

Zelda looked down from the cliffs, something in her stomach dropping as she calculated the drop. She was not very high up, not as high up as she could have been, anyways, but it was still a drop. She had always been a little bit afraid of heights, but also felt a sense of excitement about them. She unfolded the paraglider in her hands, feeling the firm weight of the quality wood, feeling the way the tight, strong fabric unfurled from its position magnificently. It was a fine work of craftsmanship, delicately and meticulously made, and Zelda felt a strange sense of pride of holding it in her hands.

She was a little bird, always afraid of flight, and staying on land, where she could be safe. Yet she longed for the freedom of it, and had always wondered how it would feel to break free from her cage and soar. She gripped the paraglider in both hands, steadied herself, and then leaped.

For a moment, Zelda couldn't breathe, the breath caught somewhere between her lungs and her lips. She realized then that her eyes were closed, shut out against the world, and she knew that was no way for a bird to live.

When she opened her eyes, any breath that she was holding onto was stolen from her, as she felt the wind dance around her figure like wisps in a flame.

She had always known that her little land of Hyrule was beautiful, but she had never seen it like this. From high above, her world looked so small, so minutiae and delicate, as though it were one of her play sets from an age long past. The stars and moon twinkled down on the land gently; casting the terrain in a soft, blue light. The sun was beginning to rise from the east, fighting and winning dominance in the sky, casting the topography in vivid, rich colors.

She was flying towards the Ginner and Midla woods, with Hateno Village and Mount Lanayru to her right, and the beautiful East Necluda to her left. She flew directly over their cottage, her feet dangling from the paraglider. From her vantage point in the sky, she could see the lava flowing from Death Mountain, neon and vibrant.

As she descended, the homes to her right began to grow bigger and bigger, the leaves to her left in the Midla and Ginner Woods growing sharper and more detailed. She made a plan to land, aiming for the archway into Hateno Village. Though she hadn't landed on a paraglider before, she felt confident already in her abilities, in the short time she had soared. She made a quick turn at the Ginner Woods, circling back towards the entrance.

She didn't calculate, however, for the condensation that would form on the handles of the paraglider.

It was her left hand that slipped first, her body swinging to the right as the paraglider tilted down towards the right, its arch swinging away from the archway to Hateno Village and towards the Midla Woods. Zelda gasped, trying desperately to grab the handle again, but in its tilt, it was much too high for her to grasp.

At this angle, she was gliding to the ground at an alarming rate, and saw the tops of the woods come at her dramatically. She felt the tops of the trees scratch at her feet, before she tumbled through the tree branches, the leaves and twigs catching at her hair and arms, before the twigs turned to branches and her momentum was stopped suddenly, as she cascaded down and down, before landing on the forest floor with a dull thud.

She laid there for the briefest of moments, slightly disoriented, collecting her bearings. The fall had knocked the wind out of her, and she was sore all over, but after a careful evaluation, she didn't think anything was broken.

Slowly, she stood up on shaken limbs, taking a moment to put a small bit of weight on each leg before she determined they were suitable to walk. Her hair was tangled, with leaves and small twigs still caught in it, but she didn't have the energy to pull them out. Her left side was covered in dirt, having landed on it, and her arms and face were littered with small scrapes. Overall, she determined that the damage was superficial, and nothing that a hot bath couldn't fix.

The rays of dawn were beginning to shine through the leaves, casting lovely little shadows across the woods. She dusted herself off, turned around, and then stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the remnants of Link's paraglider.

The rich wood was splintered in places, the untouched wood inside it facing upwards in jagged, sharp points. The cloth embroidered with the Rito symbol had a giant slice down the middle, the cotton fibers fraying at the edge. Twigs had poked holes here and there, some twigs still remaining and some lost to the crash.

Zelda picked up the destroyed paraglider in her hands, the beginnings of tears welling in her eyes. Panic bubbled in her chest as she wondered how she would explain this to Link. She had to fix this somehow before Link woke up. All she would need would be some ties to splint the wood together and a needle and thread for the cloth. Maybe some glue if she could find some. Yes, that would do.

Pushing down the panic in her chest, she made her way up the winding path towards Hateno Village, noticing distantly that she was either much farther away from the village than she had thought, or she was walking at a much slower pace. By now, all shadows of twilight had been washed away by the rays of dawn, and the village would soon, if they hadn't already, be starting their day. She needed to get this back and fixed somehow before Link woke up.

In the wake of the defeat of Calamity Ganon, Link and Zelda had spent their days lazy, and now, nearly two years after his defeat, Link spent his days sleeping long after the sun had risen. Zelda knew that she had roughly an hour – maybe less – until he woke up and made his way downstairs. She decided it might be best to grab everything that she needed from inside the cottage and make her way outside with it. He would be wondering where she had gone, however, so she knew that she would have to make haste.

Their little cottage was quiet with activity, it seemed, which was good, as Zelda crossed the bridge to their humble abode. She found herself favoring her right side as she walked, as her left was still sore from having fallen onto it. She paused in front of the door to their home, listening for movement and hearing none, before opening the door as quietly as she could, the ruined paraglider still being cradled in her arms.

She shut the door with a tiny click and froze, listening and waiting for the deep inhalations and exhalations of sleep from her partner. She was rewarded then, when she did hear him sleeping soundly from upstairs, but knew that she had to be quick. Carefully, she set down the paraglider onto the kitchen table, making for the pantry where he stored his gear, and rummaged around his bags, looking for some kind of rope, or adhesive, and a needle and thread.

She found some small, thin rope, like a twine, and a small needle and thread, but no adhesive, but she would just have to make do. She set up shop on the floor beside the kitchen table, taking the devastated paraglider in her hands and getting to work. She started on the cloth first and stitched it up, noticing that though the thread was white and was not a perfect match, the stitches were tight. She made quick work of it, and noticed offhandedly that the Rito symbol was off kilter in some places, having not been sown back together straight. Ah well, she thought, she would fix it later if she had time.

Now, she had to try and fix the structure of the paraglider, and holding up two pieces in her hands, the panic in her chest began to bubble up again. She had no idea how these went together, and she was not sure that she trusted herself to fix the paraglider, and deem it safe for Link to fly on again. And what if the twine didn't hold out? She didn't know a lot about the physics of it, but she did know that the structure and weight distribution of it was probably very important for flying. One small deviation in design, and Link could go toppling down, whether it be from a few feet in the air, or the top of Mount Lanayru.

And boy, did she know how often her hero liked to jump from really tall places.

A drop of blood splattered onto the wood of the paraglider, and Zelda frowned. Was she bleeding? Gingerly, she reached her fingertips up to her forehead and gasped, the wound stinging from where she placed her hand. She had a modestly sized gash above her eyebrow, her fingers coming back red. How had she not noticed this before? She had only found a few minor scrapes from her fall when she had picked herself back up, but this was a bit more substantial than a minor scrape.

She froze, hearing the tell tale signs of Link waking up upstairs, hearing him groan as he stretched. He must have woken having heard her gasp from her wound.

"Zelda? You downstairs?"

Yes, he definitely had heard her.

Frantically, Zelda gathered the pieces of the paraglider, and, in a panic, shoved them into the pantry, behind his gear on the shelf. She rounded the corner as she heard Link coming down the stairs. Unsure of what to do, Zelda busied herself in front of the Champions' weapons, putting up the front of taking in their splendor.

She wasn't sure what kind of a state she was in, appearance-wise, but if she was in any state of dishevelment, Link didn't seem to notice as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, placing his chin on her shoulder, "You're up early."

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," Zelda said, softly, trying to calm the waver in her voice.

Link, ever diligent as he was, noticed this, lifting his chin from her shoulder, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Zelda said, holding her ground to keep him from turning her around to face him, "Just tired, is all."

She tried to side step out of his hold, perhaps to walk around the table and out the door to the pond, where she could escape his gaze for just a moment longer, but his hold around her waist tightened with one hand, as the other snaked from her waist to her hair, reaching towards it and grabbing a small twig from it, placing it in front of her line of sight.

"New hairstyle?" Link asked, the ghost of a laugh on his voice, any remaining traces of sleep bleeding out from his voice entirely.

Zelda froze, her ears ringing, and before she could shake herself out of his grasp and run, he had her turned around in his arms, and she met his alarmed, intense eyes. Even coming from sleep, with his hair still tousled and messy, he was still beautiful, but those beautiful, soft features she had come to fall in love with were hard and intense in concern, his hand reaching up towards her forehead, flinching slightly when she gasped at the contact of it.

"Zel, what happened?" Link asked, his eyes searching her face for answers.

She found that she couldn't speak, her voice lost somewhere between her lips and her chest, and even if she could, she knew not what to say. Link led her over towards one of the kitchen chairs and she let him set her down in the chair and knelt down in front of her, meticulously looking over her arms and legs before deciding that the only real harm was inflicted on the gash above her eyebrow.

"We need to get that cleaned up," Link decided, standing up, "I've got some potions and gauze in my pack over there, let me go get it and –"

"No," Zelda said, the alarm rising in her voice as Link went towards the small pantry.

He looked at her then, an incredulous look on his face, "Zel, you're bleeding, that's going to get infected if we don't do something about it."

"Link, I'm fine," Zelda whispered, the waver in her voice becoming more pronounced, threatening to turn to tears, "Don't worry about it, I'll clean it myself."

"Zelda, what has gotten into you?" Link said slowly, questioningly, taking a step towards her, "And you still haven't told me what happened to you in the first place."

Zelda was backed into a corner with no way out. Carefully, she stood up on her feet from the kitchen table, placing herself between Link and the pantry, "If I tell you, do you promise not to get mad?"

"Zelda," Link sighed, reaching a hand out towards her arm, "Why would I get mad? What's going on? Talk to me."

Zelda sighed, her breath shaking and her limbs quivering, "I wanted to know what it felt like to soar using your paraglider... so… I jumped."

"You jumped?" Link said, slowly, "From where?"

She pointed vaguely towards the back of their little cottage, "The Ebon Mountains."

"You jumped from the top of the Ebon Mountains?" Link asked, his voice rising in fear and panic, "Zelda, you could have seriously gotten hurt. You could have died."

"Not from the top of the Ebon," Zelda backtracked, her voice picking up speed, "Maybe about a third of the way up. I just wanted to see if I could do it, see what it felt like."

Link breathed in sharply through his nose, letting out a sigh, "Zel, I would have shown you what to do if you had just asked. Flying is the easy part, it's landing that can be disastrous. Everyone needs a spotter their first time."

"You didn't have a spotter your first time."

"I didn't have a choice my first time."

They stood in silence for a moment, staring at each other.

"There's something more you're not telling me, isn't there?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You're an open book, Zel."

Zelda sighed, gathering up what little courage she had left, "I need you to promise me that you won't get mad."

"You're scaring me, Zel."

"Promise me."

"Where else are you hurt?"

"Link_, promise me."_

They stood, staring at each other for a moment longer, before Link grasped the bridge of his nose between his fingers, his eyes clenched closed as he breathed sharply from his nose.

"I promise."

Gingerly, Zelda turned around and took a few fleeting steps towards the pantry. Once inside, she spared a glance back towards her knight. His eyes were trained on her, never wavering, and she felt herself shrinking under his gaze. She reached towards his gear on the shelf, reaching behind it to where she had haphazardly stowed the damaged paraglider. She felt it on her fingertips, took a deep breath, and then lifted it from its hiding spot, turning her body back towards Link.

In his defense, if he was thinking anything, he didn't show it. His expression was cautiously neutral, locked on the splintered paraglider with careful, trained eyes, before he looked back up into the eyes of his princess.

She held it out in her arms, as a sort of pitiful offering, and Link placed it in his arms wordlessly. Tears began welling up in her eyes as she did so, threatening to fall. He looked at the paraglider for a moment, a string of unidentifiable emotions shifting through his eyes, before he placed the rubble onto the kitchen table and in two long strides, made his way to the pantry and began rummaging through his pack.

It was silent, save for the sound of their breathing and him digging through his pack, and Zelda's anxiety was skyrocketing, "Link," she breathed, "say something."

"We're going to need a disinfectant for that cut," Link said, "It might sting a little, so I apologize in advance."

"Link, what about the paraglider?"

"What about it?"

"It's broken."

"I can see that."

Link strode back over to her and in a swift motion, placed her back down onto the kitchen chair wordlessly. Zelda fell back slightly, a sense of shock overwhelming her emotions as Link knelt in front of her once again, and began dabbing at the wound on her forehead. Zelda winced, the promise of it stinging proving to be true. The paraglider sat on the kitchen table next to her, all but forgotten by its previous owner.

A tear rolled down Zelda's cheek, Link's eye flickering towards it for a second before going back to her forehead, "I'm sorry," Zelda whispered.

"What are you sorry about?" Link muttered, his voice neutral.

"Your paraglider," Zelda said, exasperated now with Link's indifference, "You were supposed to be angry about this!"

"Did you want me to be angry about this?" Link asked, a careful look in his eyes, "If I remember correctly, I did make a promise not to get mad about this."

"So you are mad!"

"I never said that."

"Link," Zelda grabbed his wrist, which was clearing her forehead. He stopped at that, his eyes meeting hers, "I broke your paraglider."

"And if I had to, I would break it again."

"I don't understand."

"Zel," Link sighed, rolling back onto his heels, his forearms resting on his knees, "It's just a glider. It can always be replaced. In fact, I could even go to Rito Village tomorrow and have an exact replica made, if I so chose to. In hindsight, I don't care about a piece of wood with a fancy cloth strapped to it. I care about _you. _No matter how hard I try, I can't go to Rito Village and have a brand new Zelda made for me. That's not how it works. So yeah, if the worst thing to come of this was a gash on your forehead and a broken paraglider, I'm okay with that. I can live with that. I would take that any day than what could have happened."

Zelda sighed, a small laugh escaping her lips as she turned her eyes skyward, trying to stop the tears from falling.

"I'm glad to see that your duty towards me far outweighs anything I could do to make you angry."

"Don't make a habit of testing the bounds of my patience, love."

Zelda laughed, the last bubble of panic escaping from her chest.

"Just promise me something," Link murmured, tilting her chin up towards him, his lips feather light on hers, barely touching.

"Next time, promise me you'll let me catch you if you fall."

* * *

"_Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." –Leonardo Da Vinci_

* * *

_fin._


End file.
